5 Strategies to Prevent Burnout and Empower Yourself for Recovery – Part 4
Listen To Your Body
“Jathan, tell me about your physical health,” said my therapist.
“Huh?” I said.
“Do you get regular exercise? How is your sleep? You know….”
The question mark on my face told him I didn’t know.
“Because, you see, your physical health plays a significant role in your mental health.”
At this point I was new to the mental health thing, and I couldn’t see how whether or not I went to the gym or laid up on the couch eating twinkies had much of a bearing on the mental exhaustion I was dealing with.
Playing along, however, I launched into a tirade about how I don’t have time to exercise because I have too much on my plate with teaching school, kids, and ministry.
As for sleep…”What’s that?” I said. “I’ve got four kids and one of those is a toddler and another has really bad epilepsy.”
Being the good therapist that he is, he just nodded.
By the end of the session, however, I decided that if I was going to spend good copay money on therapy, I might as well give at least some of his ridiculous advice a shot.
That was several years ago and I’ve been going to the gym ever since. Score one for the therapist.
No, I won’t be winning ironman competitions any time soon, but I sure do feel a lot better.
In fact, it would be impossible for me to overstate the role that taking better care of and listening to my physical body has made in my quest to stay fresh in ministry.
“How so?” you might ask.
Well, it’s widely known that exercise releases all kinds of good chemicals in the body. And to get our blood flowing multiple times just adds a freshness to one’s mind and spirit.
Second, as Paul said in I Corinthians 6:19 “…your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost…”
Ministry Work Is Never Done
Modern ministry is constructed in such a way that to take a wrecking ball to our temple.
The work of ministry is never done. There’s no time to sleep. No time to eat healthy. The constant demand to eat big meals late at night.
And bad food, little sleep, and no exercise will wear your body down.
Now I certainly don’t want to give physical fitness a spiritual value that God never intended. And we all know that pride can get a foothold should we begin to worship our temple instead of the God of our temple.
But I also believe that over time enough abuse of our bodies can have a negative impact on our spirituality.
I conclude by saying this, your emotional struggles aren’t just in your head, They are in the rest of your body as well.
So from time to time, we need to look ourselves in the mirror and say, “Self, tell me about your physical health.”
It might surprise us what the man in the mirror says.
Be on the lookout next week for Strategy #5 . In the meantime, here are a few questions to consider. I look forward to hearing from you in the comments.
- Do you have a true read on your physical health? Have you gone to the doctor and gotten a screening? Is it time to define reality concerning your physical condition?
- Perhaps you feel like you don’t have time to improve your physical health. But if you continue your lifestyle, what kind of health problems might you have in five years?
- What is SOMETHING that you can do immediately to work on your physical health? Even if it’s taking a walk a few days a week.
In case you missed it here is the link to Strategy #1 Mind Your Feels